Three Women in the Cage

Xinxin was wondering why her mother was hesitant to speak. Before she could find out the reason, she saw her mother open the glass window from the outside and stuff a bag of steamed buns in through the gap in the window. With a "click", the bag of steamed buns fell on the table.

The noise here finally attracted the attention of Teacher Wu and the classmates. All of a sudden, everyone looked over. Xinxin blushed suddenly, and awkwardly took the steamed bun on the table and quickly stuffed it into the desk, lowering her head and not daring to look at the teacher and classmates around her.

When everyone looked over, Yang Yu had already turned around hurriedly and walked outside.

Watching her mother's desolate back walking further and further away, she felt an indescribable feeling in her heart. She sat in the classroom feeling uneasy, just hoping that school would end quickly so that she could go home.

No matter how scared she was to go home, now that her mother was back, she couldn't leave her alone at home. So, no matter how scared she was or how much she didn't want to go back, she had to go home.

And a home with a mother is a home! She believed that with her mother's strength, she could resist the entanglement of those evil spirits.

As soon as the bell for the last class rang, Xinxin couldn't wait to run out of the classroom. On the way, she met Tan Liu, who called out to Xinxin and said, "Xinxin, is that your mother coming back?"

"Yes, my mother is back, I want to go back," Xinxin said anxiously.

"That's great, I can go home from now on," Tan Liu said with pretended relief.

Xinxin nodded, walked past her, and headed straight towards the school gate.

The way home this time was different from before. She was eager to go home and wanted to know why her mother came back suddenly.

As if she couldn't wait any longer, she ran quickly, running and running, and finally got closer and closer to home.

She didn't have time to rest and catch her breath, so she continued running. Soon she reached the gate of the yard. Looking at the open door, she rushed in impatiently.

He shouted to Yang Yu who was lighting the fire in the kitchen: "Mom!"

Yang Yu turned around and saw Xinxin coming back. She asked in surprise, "Hey, why are you back? Isn't our holiday on Friday?"

She said with mixed feelings: "I wanted to come back to see you. It's still early for evening study, so I came back first."

Yang Yu said angrily, "What are you doing back here, kid? Can't I take care of myself? Why do you worry about me? I told you to study hard at school, but you're running back and forth like this, delaying your studies. What will you do? Hurry up, come back to school after dinner!"

Xinxin agreed, found a small stool and sat next to her mother, asking the question in her heart: "Mom, why did you come back so suddenly?"

Yang Yu originally didn't want to say anything, but after a sigh, he finally said, "Nowadays, no matter where you are, if you don't have money or skills, you will be despised by others, even relatives! Why should I stay here and let others despise me?"

"So, you have to study hard in the future, because you can't rely on anyone else. You can only rely on yourself, okay?"

Yang Yu lamented the fickleness of human nature and the indifference of the world.

Xinxin understood the helplessness and sadness in her mother's words, and suddenly her heart ached. Yes, the relationship that was once the closest to her has now become fragmented. No one can bear such devastation!

She knew that her mother came back with a broken heart, with disappointment and pain in family affection, and with regret and resentment for the past. She looked at her mother, not knowing that she had been living a hard and difficult life for the past month just like herself. Now, two equally pitiful people were squeezed into this shabby house, and suddenly they felt a sense of sympathy!

Seeing her mother's sadness, Xinxin felt hatred for her relatives for the first time. Yes, hatred, hatred for them for making her mother sad, hatred for them for destroying her mother's only hope. Her mother had suffered enough, and even the people closest to her wanted to bully her. How cruel they were. So she hated, hated everything and everyone who hurt her mother.

Xinxin had a casual dinner and was then urged by Yang Yu to go back to school. Xinxin had no choice but to leave in a hurry, but she was worried about her mother and planned to go home every day.

Later, Yang Yu planted vegetables in the garden and fields, bought livestock to raise, and his life returned to its former busy state.

Xinxin rushed home after school, and when she didn't see her mother waiting for her in the kitchen, she had to cook for herself and help feed the livestock and poultry. Every day, she tried to wait until her mother came back and take a look at her before leaving. However, she couldn't see her mother every time, so she dragged out time and waited until the last moment before rushing to school.

When I ran to the classroom door again, panting, the classroom was already full of students sitting quietly. Teacher Wu was sitting solemnly in front of the podium. Xinxin stood awkwardly at the classroom door and softly called out "Report".

This was not the first time she was late. Since her mother came back, she went back more and more often and was late more and more often. Every time she was late before, as long as she stood at the door, lowered her head and shouted "Report", Teacher Wu would nod slightly and let her in.

However, this time, Teacher Wu acted as if he didn't hear anything and silently corrected the papers in his hands. Looking at Teacher Wu's sullen face, Xinxin felt ashamed for the first time.

The students around her were surprised that Teacher Wu didn't let her in. Teacher Wu usually paid a lot of attention to Xinxin and always turned a blind eye to her lateness. Why was he so serious today?

Everyone couldn't help but look at Xinxin, who stood blankly at the doorway, with various expressions. Being stared at by these eyes, Xinxin suddenly felt awkward and at a loss. Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore and slowly moved back, trying to hide her embarrassment, but tears flowed silently.

Teacher Wu caught sight of Xinxin's embarrassment out of the corner of his eye, quickly dropped the test paper in his hand, walked out quickly, and said to Xinxin with red eyes: "Come with me."

Xinxin had no choice but to follow Teacher Wu to the side corridor. Teacher Wu turned around, looked at Xinxin, who was crying with grievance, and said helplessly: "Can you tell me why you are late every day? I remember you don't live on campus, so why are you here now?"

He really didn't understand why she was always late recently. He didn't know what happened to her, so he didn't let her in.

Xinxin burst into tears and said, "I'm going home..."

Teacher Wu asked, "Is it because your mother is back that you want to go home for dinner?"

Xinxin nodded and said, "Yes, my mother is back, and I have to go home for dinner every day."

Teacher Wu understood and said, "Is it because you want to save money on dinner? Why don't you come to my place after school to eat? Teacher Wu has to cook too, so one more person won't make much difference. This way, you won't have to run back and forth and delay your studies."

Teacher Wu didn't understand. Xinxin went home not just to save money for dinner, but for many other reasons. One was to help her mother with the chores, and the other was that her mother was home alone, and the villagers would bully her again, just like they used to. She would definitely fight back, and a heated argument would ensue, followed by beatings and kicks.

She was afraid that her mother would be bullied, so she held her breath on the way home every day, fearing that she would hear any quarreling, because she knew that once there was a quarrel, nine times out of ten, her mother would be involved!

And she always hoped that the quarreling had nothing to do with her mother. Once she found out it was not her mother, she would cry with joy, and her frightened heart would instantly calm down.

If she finds out it's her mother, she will follow the slightest sound and rush over in panic. Just pray and have a quarrel, but never use violence.